Back on August 7th, I post this:

Here’s a wonderful story:

At the age of 6, James King announced his intention to become a novelist. And in his 50s, that was still the plan. Yes, he paid the bills (and two college tuitions) with his day job writing corporate training materials. But every morning at 5, he’d turn on the computer in his basement in Wilton, Conn., and after a few minutes of staring at the screen, spend the next couple of hours writing fiction no one ever wanted to buy.

Fifty-four book agents had taken a pass on his fourth unpublished novel when he happened upon a link to something called the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition on one of those agent’s Web sites. “What do I have to lose?” he asked his wife, strictly rhetorically. And this Monday, Aug. 9, as winner of that contest, which was entered by some 6,500 writers in 22 countries, James King’s debut novel, “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance,” will be published by Viking. On its cover, the mystery-writing machine a.k.a. Sue Grafton tosses this humble bouquet in his direction: “This is what reading is about,” she says of King’s first published work of fiction, “and what a good book is supposed to do.”

If you have ever contemplated giving up on your dreams of becoming a professional writer… if there are days when you think there’s no point in going on with your writing… if you think you have no chance at success…

Think again.  Think of a man named James King.  Another honorary member of the GITS Persistence Hall of Fame!

Jim and I got in touch with each other, and he kindly agreed to do a GITS Q&A.  Here it is:

Let’s start with the whirlwind of attention that’s surrounding the recent release of your novel “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance.”  People magazine named your book a “Good Read.”  You’ve been interviewed on TV and just started a round of book readings across the country.  Is all this hoopla what you imagined when you were 6 years old and announced to the world that you were going to be a writer?

As a matter of fact…yes. At least, in as much as a six-year-old can imagine this sort of thing. I know I’m supposed to say that no, no, I never dreamed of all this coming true. But the fact of the matter is that this vision – getting a book published, people reading it and (hopefully) enjoying it, talking about it with others, gaining a little bit of public notice for it – this vision is what kept me writing through so many years of rejection. What writer doesn’t dream of this? I just feel incredibly lucky that it’s all actually coming true.

Let’s go back to that 6 year-old boy.  How did you even know what a novelist was?  And what inspired you to want to become one?

I remember quite clearly seeing a call for story submissions in Highlights for Children. The headline read something like, “YOU can be a PUBLISHED AUTHOR!” Well, that sounded like a pretty cool and important thing to be—the capital letters proved it. So I wrote a story, entered the contest and, soon thereafter, received my first rejection notice. But I kept writing stories, even if the only audience I could interest was my family. Strike that… my parents were the only interested parties. They forced the rest of my eight siblings to sit and listen.

Do you remember some of the novels and books that inspired you as a youth?

I have never forgotten a book I read in fourth or fifth grade called, Yankee Traitor, Rebel Spy. It was written by Elinor Case. I remember sitting in the library at St. Luke’s – my grade school in Lakewood, Ohio –  when I read the climactic scene in that book.  I felt as though someone had just punched me in the gut. It brought me to tears. I wanted that kind of power, the ability to grab someone’s emotions like that through writing.

I read all the Hardy Boy books, and I remember devouring a wonderful, pioneer-adventure series for boys written by Joseph Altsheler, The Young Trailers. Then along came Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird. How can you read those books and not want to be a writer?

“Bill Warrington’s Last Chance” is your 4th novel.  Can you tell us some history of the first three?

If I were to write a book about them, I might  entitle it, “A History of No” or “Thanks, Not for Us” or “Loved It, Can’t Sell It, Good Luck Elsewhere.” I have a file cabinet full of polite and not-so-polite rejections. I started collecting them soon after my first novel, a young adult novel that featured two brothers and a dangerous game of chicken on railroad tracks. My second novel was set on a kibbutz in Israel and involved a murder, a wrongly accused Palestinian, and the Israeli lawyer defending him. The third involved a rather bizarre kidnapping and a man’s attempt to find himself, whatever that means.

In each case, I deluded myself into thinking I was getting closer. An agent would write back and say, “This would make a great screenplay,” so I’d rewrite it as screenplay. Mistake. Another one suggested extensive edits and working with a so-called Book Doctor, which I did. But in the end, the agent passed on the project. In fact, I was in the middle of rewriting Bill Warrington’s Last Chance as a YA novel, based on an agent’s advice, when I learned that it was going to be published.

What did you do as a career / support yourself after you graduated college and before you wrote “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance”?

After I graduated from college, I decided to spend three months traveling before looking for a “real” job. So I worked to earn enough money, traveled a bit in Europe until I ran out of money, came back to the States to earn more money, went back overseas… Long story short – three months turned into three years. I ran out of money in Bangkok and the cheapest flight to the USA was in San Francisco. I fell in love with the city and vowed never to leave it. I worked in the hotel business and wrote on the side. Then I was offered a writing job on the East Coast, so I broke my vow to never leave San Francisco and moved to Connecticut to take a position with a small but growing publishing firm. After four years of that, I went out on my own as a freelance writer, and have been fortunate to have been making my living that way ever since. It’s been twenty-four years and counting.

So you turn 53 and decide you’re going to give the novelist thing another shot.  This time you did something different: You enrolled in a graduate writing program.  What caused you to make that choice?  Did being a part of that program help you write “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance” and if so, how?

I kept hearing about these MFA programs, and of course they are advertised like crazy in all the writing trades and journals. And I thought it might be a good idea to get some feedback on my writing from other writers and, most important to me, real, live, published authors. So I enrolled in Manhattanville College’s graduate writing program because the college is not too far from my home here in Connecticut. And this is definitely the beginning of Bill Warrington. He started out as a short story in one class, then developed into a full-length novel in a novel-writing course. I finished most of the book while I was still in the program. It definitely helped me.

Where did the core idea for “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance” come from?

The character is based on a neighbor and friend who died about ten years ago. He was a nice man, but in a gruff, New England-Yankee sort of way. My wife and I had just moved into our house two weeks after his wife of some fifty years had died. And over the years, the house that he had built for her started to fall apart around him. He wanted no help. In fact, when I complained to him that he should let me help him, let me be a good neighbor, he said, “You are a good neighbor; you mind your own damned business.”

How did you approach writing the book?  Did you do an extensive outline or not?  Did you structure your writing schedule?  Did you actively seek out feedback on your pages?

I try to write for at least an hour or two before I turn my attention to my pay-the-mortgage work. I outline, but in a very haphazard way—just enough to get a feel for the story and the kind of characters who will populate it. Then, I write a vomit draft. The vomit draft is my attempt to get the story and characters down on paper so that I can do what I enjoy most about writing – revising and polishing. The only thing I don’t do with an outline or vomit draft is write the ending. I don’t want to know how it will end until I get there.

What was the single most difficult aspect of completing the book?  What did you learn about the creative process through writing it?

I learned that the creative process is more perspiration than inspiration. That’s an old adage, of course, but it is so true. The physical acts of sitting in chair and writing—actual writing, instead of just staring at a blank screen or a sheet of paper or a waterfall or a beautiful sunset or whatever, waiting for inspiration to hit—are when the creative ideas break through.

When people ask you what “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance” is about, what do you tell them?

“Bill Warrington’s Last Chance” is about a man trying to reconnect with his family after years of estrangement. His adult children, however, are uninterested in talking with him or each other. Too proud to tell his children about a disturbing diagnosis he’s recently received, he devises a scheme in which he skips town with granddaughter, April, leaving clues along the way so this his children have to work together to find and rescue April—before the disease takes its awful toll.

Is it really true that 54 agents rejected your book?  Was it difficult to handle that much rejection or did you get immune to it?

Yes, 54 agents rejected the book. But as I learned from attempts with my three previous unpublished novels, 54 is not an incredibly high number of rejections. Rejection is never easy, but you just have to tell yourself that it’s the nature of the beast. A conservative estimate of the number of rejections I’ve received over the years would easily run in the several hundred.

So how did the book eventually end up getting published at Viking Press?

I was surfing agent web sites, searching for the next agent to send my manuscript to, when I came across a reference to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, sponsored by Amazon and Penguin Books. The Grand Prize was a publishing contract with Penguin. I checked it out, it seemed legit. I had never entered a contest before and was hesitant to do so, but as my wife put it, “What have you got to lose?” I entered the contest and promptly forgot about it. Thousands of manuscripts were submitted from more than 20 countries. I didn’t see any possible way I was going to win. But through some miracle, I did, and Viking—one of Penguin’s imprints—was named as the publisher. I couldn’t believe my good fortune. Viking!

Could you describe for us the very moment when you learned you had won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest?  What did you do to celebrate?

Amazon and Penguin brought the three finalists into New York City for a special dinner and, the following morning, the awards ceremony. I was sitting at table with my wife, Joanne, and the other finalists and their spouses. I was sitting very still, trying to fix a smile on my face that would not betray the disappointment I’d feel when one of the other finalists was announced as the winner. When the presenter announced that the winner was “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance,” I remember wondering if I’d be able to stand to accept the award. Such a mixture of happiness, gratitude, and… relief!

I live close to New York City, so soon after the awards ceremony and after a wonderful visit to the Viking/Penguin offices, my wife and I went home to celebrate with our two children, who were waiting at home with balloons and champagne. Best party ever.

What are some of the events you’ve got lined up to promote your new novel?

I’ve been extremely fortunate in the publicity department. I’ve been on television a couple of times, have some radio interviews lined up, and will be doing readings and book signings in about a dozen venues, ranging from my home here in Wilton, Connecticut,  to Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and Minneapolis. I’m really looking forward to it. (I have an events page at www.jamesking-writer.com)

What’s next for James King, novelist?

I’m working on another novel. It’s also a family-centered drama. I’ve completed my vomit draft and am in the middle of making it readable… and sell-able, I hope.

Finally what is the key to persistence?

Belief, patience, and faith. Believe in your work, be patient with your progress, and have faith that… someday… somehow… your dream will come true. Throw in a little old-fashioned stubbornness, and you’ve got persistence.

Great interview, one that should provide much emotional sustenance to all of us plying the writing trade.